Absorbent
by Aozorain
Summary: It was at times like these that her choice of name seemed too appropriate for comfort.


**A/N: I was making my bed the other morning and I came up with this idea. When I sat down to write I didn't know too much about the story, I started off with the idea of "Lightning absorbing lightning" and let everything else come on its own.**

**I know that Raijin Ring doesn't absorb lightning damage but let it slide this once, okay? : )**

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**Absorbent**

The bare rock-face scenery of the Palisades was further accented by the piercing rays of the awakening sunlight. It was getting far too bright for Hope's tastes. Mornings by themselves weren't a real problem for him, but fighting was a different story. He hated the way his reflexes were slower than usual and how the muscles he had previously been blissfully ignorant of now were demanding his immediate attention – courtesy of the swift pace their group moved to by day and the remarkably uncomfortable sleeping conditions by night. Apparently none of the Pulse fal'Cies had been innovative enough to include a bed or two to the wilderness they had created.

Hope shook his head; his thoughts were straying too much. He was supposed to concentrate.

They were surrounded by four Mánagarmrs craving for breakfast. The beasts were outnumbered against the six l'Cies but the bloodthirsty glow in their eyes and the sharp fangs didn't match Hope's image of a pleasant morning workout. He had his hands full casting Cure left and right to keep his friends standing. Thankfully Vanille was doing half of the job. Sazh and Fang kept three of the opponents busy while Snow did what he could to shield the rest of the party members with his impressive physique.

Hope's attention turned to his left where Lightning was fighting the remaining Mánagarmr. If she had any problems with early mornings, it didn't show. She was lethal as ever, exchanging slashes from her gunblade to those from the Pulsian beast's claws with ease that would have made many a gifted swordsman change into gardening.

Then the fiend jumped back and clenched its jaw growling loudly. Hope knew it meant an attack that Vanille had called "Storm Conduction." He started readying a line of Cure spells but changed his mind when he saw a glint of something in Lightning's finger. It was the Raijin Ring she had put on in the morning just in case, a refined version of her old jewellery. The Mánagarmr's eyes flashed and released a shock of electric white with a hint of light blue. The storm crackled towards the former soldier but instead of striking through her it condensed around her and became brighter. For a second she was positively glowing and the halo of white around her outshone the sunrise in Hope's vision. He had to squeeze his eyes shut and when he opened them Lightning was already moving on to finish the very surprised monster.

"Two down, two to go!" Fang exclaimed smirking as she staggered her current opponent with a powerful thrust from her spear.

The rest of the battle was easy and the group continued their journey in a relatively good mood, considering the situation. Taejin's Tower was looming ahead. The Amphisbaenas that had been flying around it had disappeared after the fal'Cie Dahaka had made one of them serve as _his_ breakfast. Hope vaguely wondered if it was just for show or if fal'Cies actually had to eat.

"Hope? Anybody home?" Vanille's perky voice brought him back to the present. He hadn't noticed the older girl until she was right in the front of his face.

"What?"

"Nothing," Vanille shook her head, smiling. "You were spacing out, that's all."

"You better quit sleepwalking and keep up, kid," Fang said, coming to Vanille's side. "_That _end of the crew doesn't seem to like waiting," she remarked cocking her head towards Lightning who was walking some ten paces ahead and seemingly getting increasingly annoyed by Snow. Sazh was behind them, shaking his head in defeat. Hope knew that trying to explain what he had been thinking about would only make things worse on his part so he simply started walking again.

Vanille and Fang were unmistakably happy about getting to go home. Hope, too, had to admit he was curious. He had tried to picture Oerba in his mind many times but he simply couldn't imagine what a village on Gran Pulse would look like. Then again, just a couple of weeks ago the idea of people – real, intelligent, _friendly_ people – from Pulse would have been ridiculous to him.

Hope raised his gaze just in time to see Lightning's knuckles connect with Snow's jaw. The tall man had eventually reached the point of her patience everyone had known to expect. He was left to rub his chin by his "sister" who had started walking towards the tower again.

"You think that ring is making her worse somehow?" Snow asked Hope and matched his pace. "Like a side effect or something?"

"I think she'd punch you with or without the ring," Hope said honestly, suppressing his amused smile. When Snow had returned to their camp with Lightning the previous evening, he had looked like he had just saved all of Cocoon on his own. To Hope he had mentioned something about "having finally tamed the lioness" but refused to say anything more. Whatever those two had been discussing up on the hill, it didn't seem to stop Lightning from occasionally resorting to violence with her future brother-in-law.

"Hey! Get ready, we got some company!" Both Hope and Snow habitually took battle stances at the sound of Sazh's voice and Hope fixed his eyes on Lightning who was engaging yet another Mánagarmr together with the native Pulsians. She nodded a thank you to Sazh for casting Haste on her and caught the beasts in a Blitz attack.

The battle was not very different from the previous one. As its final trump card, the bigger of the two silver monsters used Storm Conductor. Hope heard Vanille's pained yelp as the electricity threw her back but he didn't take his eyes off Lightning. He raised a hand near his face to shield his eyes from the brightness and fought not to close his eyes. His sort-of mentor was in the air, gunblade raised, her hair and clothes fluttering in the wind that hadn't been there just a moment ago. The brilliant light around Lightning's body was absorbed by it just as her weapon came heavily down on the Mánagarmr's head, cleaving its skull.

The l'Cies left the beasts' remnants to other predators and set their sights on Taejin's Tower again. Hope was starting to feel thirsty. He searched his pockets for a Potion but then remembered he had drunk his last one the day before. He sped his stride until he was abreast with Lightning, who was the nearest person available.

"Hey, Light. Could you, um, give me a Potion? I've used mine."

"Sure," she replied and stopped to take a tiny bottle from her leg pouch. Hope extended a hand to take the bottle but when their fingers touched, he felt a jab of electric shock and winced. Lightning pulled her hand back quickly.

"Sorry. Should've thought about that," she apologised, putting the Potion on the ground instead. "Guess I'll take this off for now then," she continued, putting the Raijin Ring in her pocket and smiling briefly at Hope. He smiled back, a bit nervously, took the Potion and they followed the others together.

It was at times like these that her choice of name seemed too appropriate for comfort.

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**A/N: My first FFXIII fic. Just trying out the feel of different characters and stuff. Tell me how you liked it (and what would have made it better!)**

**Thanks for reading! :D**


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